ENGLEWOOD, N.J.—While Englewood’s school board voted Feb. 13 to reinstate four school officials suspended in a 2017 grade-changing scheme, earlier this month Englewood’s schools superintendent filed a complaint against the city school board and its attorney alleging “major dysfunctions” in district operations and retaliation against him due to the scandal.
So far, published estimates put school district legal costs in the grade-changing scandal and related fallout at nearly $3 million, with more legal fees and litigation still to be resolved.
Schools Superintendent Robert Kravitz filed a complaint in Superior Court that named the school board, Business Administrator Cheryl Balleto, and Dennis McKeever, an attorney who represented the board in arbitration hearings, as responsible for retaliation against him.
3,000-plus changes found
In February 2017, the Dwight Morrow High School Principal and nine more district employees were suspended when an independent review determined more than 3,000 changes were made to graduation credits and grades the year before.
Initially, Kravitz was told the grade changes were due to a glitch in data migration to a new digital records database.
In September 2017, the district moved to dismiss eight employees due to a state Department of Education compliance report that cited district officials for violating state law by not enforcing graduation requirements and allowing courses to be taught by uncertified teachers.
In so doing, the administration’s move to dismiss the employees challenged their protections under tenure.
In his lawsuit, Kravitz claims 11 administrative officials and guidance counselors were involved in the grade-changing scheme and he faced retaliation when he raised alarms about the illegal behavior.
He said some of the individuals who faced charges had connections to school board members and had provided favors for their children, who attended district schools.
In addition, Kravitz claims that the attorney handling charges against employees committed mistakes that led to ethics violation charges filed against him.
Moreover, he charges that McKeever and Balleto had previous ties in another district, and following McKeever’s appointment as attorney, both put pressure on Kravitz to drop the charges against tenured employees due to a lack of funds to press such litigation.
However, Kravitz charges, this claim of lack of funds was proven not true in a state audit of district funds.
Kravitz noted he was requested to retract statements he made about the officials facing tenure charges in September 2019, but he said he refused because the allegations were backed up by documents.
He then claimed the school board voted against his 2019 merit goal pay of $35,000 as retaliation for his refusal to back down on the tenure charges.
Kravitz’s complaint alleges more retaliation, noting his email accounts were under surveillance and that Balleto and McKeever leaked his personal information, which impaired his reputation, led to rumors he might resign, and denied him posts in other districts due to the tenure charge situation in Englewood.
Also, a hostile work environment claim was filed by Balleto.
Kravitz’s lawsuit seeks a payment of $70,000 for lost merit pay in 2019 and 2020, plus attorneys’ fees, interest, and damages for “humiliation, mental and emotional distress.”
On Feb. 13, the city school board voted to reinstate Joseph Armental, Nicole Cartwright, Venus Rose, and Luis Sanchez. Cartwright, Rose and Sanchez returned to previous posts as counselors at Dwight Morrow High School and Armental was reinstated as director of athletics. Armental previously served as the high’s school’s assistant principal.
All were previously suspended as a result of the grade/credit-changing scandal.
In a 260-page document released by the school district in September 2017, they alleged administrators were aware of grading and transcript errors, including students getting credit for courses not taken, but took no corrective action.
The document charged guidance counselors and principals for failing to keep accurate records and noted the 3,000-plus credit and grade changes allowed students to graduate without completing required credits.
Officials said nearly 300 students were affected by the credit/grade changes and nearly 100 seniors had to complete extra coursework and attend Saturday classes.